When Jana Duggar got arrested on child pornography charges back in September, her family successfully managed to keep the news under wraps for a few months.
But in December, shortly after Josh Duggar was convicted on child pornography charges, the world learned the truth.
Word of Jana’s arrest came as a complete shock to the Duggars’ few remaining fans, many of whom thought of her as the only upstanding members of her massive family.
In fairness, it sounds as though Jana’s arrest was the result of an honest mistake and not willful negligence.
Jana is often tasked with looking after several younger family members at once, and it seems that she was stretched too thin on the day in question, and one of the kids wandered away.
It’s been rumored that Jana fell asleep, though that has not been confirmed by the Duggars.
Many came to Jana’s defense, including her cousin Amy, who had previously cut ties with the most of Jim Bob’s other kids.
“This couldn’t have been intentional. Thank God the child was OK and found!” Amy wrote on Instagram
“I bet you were exhausted, stressed and just emotionally worn out,” she continued, addressing Jana directly.
But that wasn’t Amy’s only comment on the situation.
In a recent Instagram Story, Amy made a joke that many interpreted as a shot at Jana,
Explaining that she was exhausted from looking after her 3-year-old son Daxton all day, Amy explained that she planned to remain vigilant.
“One thing I won’t be doing is falling asleep,” Amy wrote.
For obvious reasons, many assumed that Amy’s remark was meant to be a joke at Jana’s expense.
One person who reported it as such was Katie Joy of the Without a Crystal Ball vlog.
Joy was noted that Amy’s joke about dozing off while caring for a young child seemed to be a thinly-veiled shot at Jana.
It seems, however, that Amy was very upset at that interpretation of her comment.
“I don’t sleep bc Daxxy is a busy body,” Amy texted Katie.
“But it wasn’t an actual stab at Jana. It’s a very sad situation,” she elaborated.
“And because of your post its unwanted attention. And I just can’t handle anything else right now”
Katie clarified that she posted about Amy’s Instagram Story and let fans decide for themselves.
“Because I cover the the family,” Joy explained.
That answer apparently didn’t satisfy Amy, who replied:
“I will call out what isn’t right.”
Clearly unhappy with the exchange and the feeling that she was being gaslit, Joy posted a screenshot of her text exchange with Amy.
“Amy told me the story she made was about Jana falling asleep while babysitting. She then lied to my face and said it wasn’t about Jana after she got backlash,” Joy explained to her Instagram followers.
“After Amy got backlash for the shade she threw at Jana, which I was not the only outlet to report, she lied to me that it was about watching Daxton.”
Amy is one of the only morally upright members of the Duggar family, but that doesn’t mean she’s unassailable in all situations.
In this case, it does indeed seem that she was called out for making a joke at Jana’s expence, and that she began to backpedal when she received criticism.
Yes, Amy’s gag was probably a little “too soon,” but it wasn’t horribly mean-spirited.
The best thing that she could do now is own it, and apologize to those who felt it was insensitive (a group that probably includes Jana).
But it seems that that ship has sailed.
Now, Amy is forced to stick to her guns and pretend that she wasn’t joking about the Jana situation.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as though anyone will be buying into that explanation.
